Death penalty in severe cases not replaced by new interpretation, says top court judge

Officials who commit severe corruption crimes, such as taking a huge amount of bribes, may face a new sentence now - life imprisonment without parole, according to an interpretation issued on Monday by the top judiciary authorities.

"The life sentence without parole is a new category of penalty for corruption, which means convicts given such punishment will spend the rest of their life in prison, no matter how well they behave while serving their sentences," said Pei Xianding, chief judge of the criminal tribunal under the Supreme People's Court.